Genesys Furthers Integration with Skype for Business

At Microsoft Ignite today, multichannel customer experience provider Genesys announced that it has strengthened its integration with Skype for Business from Microsoft. Thanks to the deeper integration, Genesys users will be able to leverage all of Skype’s multimedia capabilities to offer their customers more seamless customer service. Though the two solutions have been integrated for some time via an SIP protocol, the two now have a native integration through a Unified Communications Managed API, which provides a more far-reaching connection, explains Jim Kraeutler, senior director of innovation at Genesys.

"Customers no longer have to sacrifice functionality when using Genesys on the Skype infrastructure," Kraeutler says. "We've always talked about being omnichannel, but the difference [between the old and new integration] is that before you had to cobble together solutions from multiple third parties and build your own solution. That's not the case anymore. Now, Skype capabilities are available on a single infrastructure that can handle all media types," he adds.

With the Genesys customer experience platform as a backbone, brands can use Skype as a customer support channel for connecting with consumers in a familiar environment. Consumers can connect with a company such as Bank of America using the same contact list and process that they would use to call a friend—the contact simply shows up as "present and ready to connect," enabling consumers to instant message (IM) the company or escalate the interaction to a video or screen-sharing interaction.

Brands that equip their Web sites with the Skype Web API and have a Skype client embedded into their Web page can encourage customers to connect that way as well. The solution is fully linked to the Genesys Omnichannel Desktop, which gives agents visibility into the different ongoing interactions and enables them to easily engage customers as they move across channels. "With Genesys on top of the Skype platform, we're bringing multichannel call flows together on a single infrastructure," Kraeutler says.

The integrated solutions will be available as part of the Next Generation Genesys Customer Experience Platform with Skype for Business in July 2015 and will integrate with Microsoft Dynamics CRM, as well as other CRM solutions. "The idea is to make it easier for customer service agents to connect to any other software that they're using, such as Salesforce.com," according to Deepak Dautta, director of strategic solutions at Genesys.

"In today's consumer-driven digital age, businesses need to be more focused than ever on the customer experience," said Zig Serafin, corporate vice president of Skype Business Services at Microsoft, in a statement. "By integrating its solutions with Skype for Business, Genesys gives businesses of all sizes the ability to provide a truly exceptional customer experience across all customer engagements."

Facilitating smooth transitions between channels for both customers and customer support providers is a priority for both Genesys and Skype from Microsoft, and the ease with which the solution will plug in to the rest of the customer experience ecosystem will be a testament to that, Dautta adds.

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